Evaluating the carbon cycle of a coupled atmosphere‐biosphere model

Abstract

We investigate how well a coupled biosphere‐atmosphere model, CCM3‐IBIS, can simulate the functioning of the terrestrial biosphere and the carbon cycling through it. The simulated climate is compared to observations, while the vegetation cover and the carbon cycle are compared to an off‐line version of the biosphere model IBIS forced with observed climatic variables. The simulated climate presents some local biases that strongly affect the vegetation (e.g., a misrepresentation of the African monsoon). Compared to the off‐line model, the coupled model simulates well the globally averaged carbon fluxes and vegetation pools. The zonal mean carbon fluxes and the zonal mean seasonal cycle are also well represented except between 0° and 20°N due to the misrepresentation of the African monsoon. These results suggest that, despite regional biases in climate and ecosystem simulations, this coupled atmosphere‐biosphere model can be used to explore geographic and temporal variations in the global carbon cycle.